


Dreaming in silence

by ByTheLightOfAThousandSuns



Category: Jack West Jr Series - Matthew Reilly
Genre: Dreaming, Gen, Mentioned Jack/Lily/Zoe/Pooh-Bear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 06:23:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10077086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheLightOfAThousandSuns/pseuds/ByTheLightOfAThousandSuns
Summary: Three times Stretch dreams, and one time he doesn't.





	

The first time he dreamed, he dreamed of home.   
He was standing on a beach in Tel Aviv, right on the edge of the water. The beach was silent and empty, the only sound coming from the gently rolling waves. He looked around, confused. Up above him the clouds hung heavy, veiling the buildings in fine grey mist and obscuring the horizon. It was like he was trapped in a bubble of some sort, a silent bubble.   
Slowly he crouched and ran his hand over the water as it surged up around his legs. It felt warm against his fingers, soothing the stiff, aching joint of his wrist. The water rolled back, rushing off the sand and exposing all manner of shells and pebbles, each one glittering with beads of salt water.   
He stood, trying to flex out his tensed up muscles to no avail. No manner of movement seemed to satisfy the ache. Moving carefully in the soft sand he stepped further out into the water, away from the shore and the empty beach. Each step took him deeper, as if the warm water would help in some way.   
Plunging under the waves he hung still in the thick aquatic silence, not daring to open his eyes. He held his breath for as long as he could, until instinct forced him to breathe in a lungful of stale, heavy air. Opening his eyes he found he could see nothing in front of him but pale green liquid. The beach was gone, replaced with nothing but empty space once again. 

 

The second time he dreamed, he was back with the team.   
This time it was raining and his location, however familiar, was nothing he had ever seen before. It was as if all the places he had ever known these people, the farmhouse in Kenya, Dubai, Australia and Ireland, had all melted together to form something that was a bit of everything, but also nothing.   
He stood in the rain, once again alone but not entirely without company. Just off in the distance he could see them, Jack, Zoe, Lily and Pooh-Bear. It looked like they were dancing, exactly the same way they had been when the first rain storm had hit Jack’s farm. Lily spun in circles, her head tilted back so the rain could fall in her mouth. They were all drenched and even though they were laughing, no sound made it to him.   
He wanted to go to them, to join them, to be less alone, but he couldn’t move. It was like the mud had locked around his feet and was refusing to let him go. The rain ran down his face, but the wind that rustled the trees never reached him.   
Looking away from them he closed his eyes, trying to breathe deeply, as if that would bring their laughter to him. But when his eyes opened again, they were gone and it was just him, alone in his silent tomb. 

The third time he dreamed, he was running.  
It wasn’t a road that he knew, but he ran along it any way. He didn’t know where he was going, all he knew was that he couldn’t turn back. It was as if freedom was somewhere ahead of him, an unseen force pulling him away from his living hell. There were no more chains, no water holding him down, there was nothing but open road.   
So he kept going, hoping that somewhere further down he would be able to feel the cool air, or hear something other than his own heartbeat. But no matter how far he ran there was nothing. Each step became harder and harder, like something was gripping his ankles and trying to pull him back away from his goal. He stopped and turned, swiping down to try to push this demon away so he could continue. He was so close now, he could feel it.   
But when he looked back up at the open road, it was gone, replaced with nothing but glass and darkness. 

The forth time he dreamed, he saw a face.  
He was still in his tank, still unable to move or hear or see. But there was someone there, someone that he recognised but not someone that he feared.   
Then suddenly there was air, a breeze against his face and sound all around him as the water was flushed away. And he quickly realised, that this time, it wasn’t a dream at all.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a rather long time in the making. But that was mostly just me making life hard for myself.


End file.
